It's been 3 years since I started this blog, on my birthday! This year went by faster than the last, perhaps due to the lack of 'faux-birthday' dinners in 2015.
This year I celebrated in 3 cities with close friends and family. From Paris to DC to Prague in one week, it's been a bit hectic. Let's start with Paris.
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| Celebrating with an awkward pose :P |
A famous luxury hotel in one of the most coveted locations in Paris, Plaza Athenee is the home of the well known French chef,
Alain Ducasse's restaurant. The 3 star Michelin restaurant is named after the famous chef.
The hotel has been around since 1913, but in 2014 (presumably for its 100-year) the hotel reopened after a 200 million euro makeover. I had to check out how they managed to one-up their status of 'highest achievement of luxury in France,' which they already held prior to renovation.
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| Lobby |
I've mentioned before how I adore coming to these luxury hotels in Paris, even only for a sip of coffee. Sure, the drinks are horrendously overpriced, but consider it a bit of an entrance fee for a living museum. In these sort of establishments there are plenty of rich history and art, not to mention opportunities to bump into a celebrity or politician.
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| Outdoor bar area turned into ice rink for the winter |
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| So cute! |
Thanks to our friends, we were able to dine in the chef's table located inside the kitchen of the Alain Ducasse restaurant.
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| Main restaurant floor |
The main restaurant is all glam, with gleaming tables and dazzling chandeliers draping from the entire ceiling. On the contrary, the private room we were received in was cozy and warm. Everything was wooden and handmade with soft pastel lighting to feel like you're at someone's home rather than a flashy haute couture restaurant. Marble walls and pure silver cutlery were the only thing that hinted at luxury. It was such a treat to see the staff working past our private entrance.
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| Dinner table |
We got the chef's menu, which is whatever the chef decides we'll have for the day. The one we had was about 10 courses with mostly fish and seafood.
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| Fresh carrot, ginger, and celery concoction to start |
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| Raw white fish and potato salad |
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| Cod fish roe on top of avocado and white fish served on a chip. Super fresh! As a roe lover, I enjoyed this one a lot. |
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| Mussels and foamy tart hummus. Hummus was a definite winner. |
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| Poached langoustine on top of lemon cream and lots of caviar. Yumm. |
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| Chef's signature baked fish in brioche served with scallops. |
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| Served right at the table, with shaved white truffles. |
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| I got scallops with veggies instead of the brioche, since I don't like cheese. |
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| Huge white truffle! |
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| They served a generous portion |
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| Perfectly crispy sole and a side of pumpkin |
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| Bitter grapefruit ice with tangerines, lemon, and tiny oranges. |
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| Chocolate sorbet, coffee cream |
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| Vanilla tart |
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| White chocolate souffle |
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| Chef's signature, baba au rhum! It's served right at the table. |
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| I normally don't like this due to the hard liquor, but the cake was softened by a very delicate rum and rich vanilla cream. Delicious! |
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| Photo with staff :) |
All in all, it was a fantastic dinner that was perfect from beginning to end. The dinner was deceptively filling and we left extremely stuffed. I leave you with some lovey dovey photos to end the post before the even longer DC celebration post. Until then <3
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| Prom 2015? |
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